Various mechanisms exist for managing complex networks. Two widely used techniques used for network control and management are centralized management and decentralized, or distributed, management mechanisms. When looking at the problem of control and management of complex networks, control is are often associated with policy or configuration management associated with state assessment or state characterization. A number of network management tools exist today and are used in a variety of complex networks. Many tools are based on a concept of a centralized system where there is usually a centralized authority and administrators. Clients come into the central system based on a state or policy decision by the centralized authority.
Decentralized networks are also used, for instance, in a peer-to-peer model. However, most network management systems are based on a centralized model. There are two sides to network management and control. An autonomic system often refers to a control system model where on one side the state of the system is determined and on the other side the system is controlled through some sort of policy or configuration. When a system is autonomic, the loop is closed, in a sense. Thus, there is a state side and a control side. Typically network management systems are centralized or decentralized.
There have been problems with both the centralized and decentralized model networks, as implemented today. For instance, the centralized model does not scale well to very large complex systems. In decentralized networks, for instance, peer-to-peer and mesh networks, nodes, or client systems, may operate independent to infrastructure servers or infrastructure routers. A fairly complex environment often results, with respect to control and management.
Other problems in managing large systems relate to identifying criteria that define the stability, performance efficiency, robustness, and other operational metrics of system. Operational properties of the system may be collected and analyzed so a designer or administrator can reorganize the system for optimal performance and efficiency.